Afternoons for Wednesday 13 August 2025

 

1:15 Making sure New Zealanders are having good sex

The popular podcast series "The Good Sex Project" has been funded for a third and final season and the producers are on the lookout for New Zealanders to share their stories 

The Good Sex Project is a podcast about good sex, good relationships and how to have them

This season they're looking to cover a range of topics including age gaps, rise of singledom, male loneliness and intimacy.

 Host of "The Good Sex Project"  Melody Thomas spoke to Jesse.

1:25 The challenge of reducing 100,000 words into three minutes - could you do it?

The average PhD thesis tends to clock in at about 100,000 words. 

So, how would you go if you had to condense that to three minutes? 

That's the premise for the University of Waikato's 'Three Minute Thesis' competition. 

10 finalists were selected to perform and this year Matthew Taylor was crowned the winner, he chats to Jesse.

1:35 Is the UN still fit for purpose?

Our conversation with Auckland University's Dr Maria Armoudian about what recognising Palestine as state means, really resonated with a lot of you.

It got us thinking about the United Nations, and its role in 2025.

The United Nations was created in 1945, after the end of World War 2, when leaders from 50 countries gathered in San Francisco to agree upon an international treaty to enshrine the equal rights of all people and maintain peace .. 

Fast forward to today, is it remaining true to the resulting treaty, its founding document, the UN Charter?

The Right Honourable Helen Clark served as an administrator of the United Nations Development Programme from 2009 to 2017 and has been in Egypt visiting the Gaza border. She spoke to Jesse.

1:45 Heading Off: Chatham Islands

'Heading Off' is our weekly travel segment when we jet off to either a local or international destination. 

Today we're staying close to home and heading to the Chatham Islands. 

It's a big week for the community because the annual Festival of Science kicked off for its fifth iteration. 

One of the lead organisers is Alicia Cui and she joins Jesse live from the Chathams. 

2.12 Music Critic: Tony Stamp shares new music

Music 101's Tony Stamp with new music - Obongjayar's single Not in Surrender

and Jens Lekman with Candy From a Stranger 

2:20 Easy Eats: Broccoli and spinach pesto pasta

Kelly Gibney joins us with a lovely mid week recipe. 

This week it's a pasta and we're including broccoli and spinach to add nutritional punch to the sauce.

Adding lightly cooked broccoli and fresh baby spinach is an easy way to super-charge pesto. Recipe is here

2:30 Bookmarks with Neil Finn - yes, that Neil Finn!

Time for Bookmarks where each week we get an interesting person, and ask them to recommend some of their favourite books, TV shows, films, music and anything else they want to share.

Today Jesse is joined by Neil Finn, you might know him from bands like Split Enz, Crowded House and a stint in Fleetwood Mac.

3:10 Can you recognise faces? We meet a super recogniser and learn about face blindness

Forgetting a name is embarrassing. Forgetting a face takes that awkwardness to the next level. Renowned author and podcaster Malcolm Gladwell forgets faces all the time.  

He has face blindness, which affects about 3% of people. His Revisionist History podcast producer, Lucie Sullivan is the opposite. She's a super-recognizer who almost never forgets a face. They shared their experiences on a recent podcast episode.

Jesse talks to Lucie Sullivan and Harvard psychologist and Face Blindness expert Dr. Joe DeGutis.  Here's the test we talk about in the interview.

3:35 Stories from Our Changing World: The science behind non-alcoholic beer

Time now for Our Changing World, and we're catching up with host Claire Concannon in person this week. 

Claire explains to Jesse how she found an excuse to go to a brewery for work. 

3:45 The pre-Panel

Wallace Chapman previews tonight's instalment of The Panel.